Farewell to a Friend

We lost a friend yesterday. After two heroic battles with lung cancer, complications took their toll, and his wife (Sue) told me he succumbed yesterday morning.

I am tremendously sad about this for obvious reasons, but even more so because when we found out he was in jeopardy again, we never got an opportunity to visit. For the last 3 or 4 months of 2012, my family had some kind of illness or another, and we didn’t want to risk worsening his already compromised health.

His wife sent a message on Monday letting us know that John had gotten much worse and that he had been moved to hospice care. This was shocking, as their combined wills had overcome so much during his cancer nightmares. I had been under the assumption that once the issue was diagnosed and understood that they would be able to get past it.

And so, we planned to visit John either Thursday or Friday this week, and now it’s too late. I know that John would not have held this against us, and I’m sure his wife does not, either. It is what it is. (That has become my least favorite phrase.)

She has asked me to put together a song list for his services and I am honored to do it. Music was one of our favorite things to discuss, and I liked talking to him about different records because he didn’t pull punches. If he didn’t like something, he didn’t patronize, he just said so. I did the same. And when I’d suggest something that he did like, it was great, because I knew it was genuine.

He turned me on to Calexico. I hadn’t heard of them, and had I heard a description of them first, I’d have never bothered. Turns out I love them. This is the kind of thing that I will remember forever about John. There are lots of other examples.

We also loved to meet John and his wife (and our other friends) at the fish fry in Maple Park. Bringing Eli along was even more fun, as he really liked John and it was pretty easy to tell that John was also fond of him. The food was almost irrelevant; we were there for the conversation and the good feeling we had by the time we parted ways.

I am sad that Eli will not be able to visit John at Garfield Farm this year. I will miss our lengthy discussions about music and beer. I am sad knowing that a philosophical ally will no longer be available.

Another story: Jennie and I were driving to Wisconsin one Saturday morning, listening to NPR and discussing how much we enjoyed NPR on Saturdays. It was a pledge weekend, and we were considering contributing for the first time, when we heard “...and a pledge from Sue G. and John E. from Maple Park...” We made our first pledge as a couple after that.

Goodbye, John. Thanks for being a good friend.

Gary Numan - Down in the Park

This is a great song, and the video below is the best performance of it. I've heard a number of versions of it from different eras, but always preferred this one. Then, I saw the actual film footage and now there's no debate on any level. From the concert Urgh: A Music War!, the stage and props are spectacular and put the perfect atmosphere around a dark and moody groove.

Tune-Yards - Gangsta

4AD has popped back up onto my radar in a big way in the past couple of years, particularly with St. Vincent, but also with the very unique sounds of Merrill Garbus in Tune-Yards. I can't even offer a reasonable comparison, or a combination of other artists who might give an idea of what she's doing. Probably the closest thing would be a mix of Zap Mama and Laurie Anderson, but that's not terribly accurate. Regardless, it's energetic and imaginative, with a dash of technical wizardry added in for good measure. This is the song that got the most attention, but the entire W H O K I L L album is great. Cohesive, even. Enjoy:

Beer Beer Beer

Here's a blurry photo of the first beer I've brewed: I say that I brewed it, but in reality, I visited a friend (Matt P.) who has all of the equipment and the means to get very good ingredients in a kit. He is also quite experienced and happens to have a son the exact age of mine, so we had a couple of play dates that resulted in the Irish stout pictured above. Further, he really did all the work. I dumped in ingredients and filled bottles, but he set up the equipment, timed the boil, and measured the gravity at the correct times. I suppose when you have the gear and have experimented a few times (or many times, in Matt's case) it becomes rote. Anyhow, it turned out to be pretty good! I'm not sure I've been bitten by the brewing bug, but I'm game to try again. Perhaps a little research on other styles is in order. Prost!

The Breeders - Do You Love Me Now?

Cannonball got the attention from this record, but it's solid from front to back. This particular track is one of my favorites: